American subscription-based streaming service Netflix has announced that starting in November 2022, it will roll out its new ad-supported tier.
The ad-supported subscription tier which will be available for USD 6.99 will formally launch in the United States on November 3.
Other countries where prices of Netflix’s plans are higher, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the UK will be getting the new Basic with Ads plan at a later date. With the Basic with Ads, users will get about 4-5 minutes of commercials for every hour of content that they consume.
The ads which will be served will be about 15-30 seconds in length and will be played before and during the actual piece of content. Netflix, says that this model may be changed at a later date.
The Verge reported that in exchange for making users watch an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour, the Basic with Ads plan gives subscribers access to a large portion of Netflix’s programming.
However, not the full catalogue will be available as a small selection of television shows and movies will not be available to Basic with Ads subscribers due to licensing restrictions that Netflix says it’s currently working on.
Basic with Ads subscribers will also be unable to download content to their devices, and video quality will be limited to 720p / HD, reported The Verge.
During a press conference announcing the new tier, Netflix described it as “pro-consumer” and explained how its internal content tagging teams were tasked with finding natural breakpoints in various shows and films to place commercials in.
Netflix’s ad tier arrives in response to a sudden slump for the streamer, which lost over 1 million subscribers in the US and Canada earlier this year and has seen its stock price plunge in response to investor concerns that its period of rapid growth has ended, according to The Verge.